How to stop vendor bank account change fraud and fake payment emails
An email asks to change where you pay a vendor. The agent holds it, calls the vendor at the number on file, and only then marks it verified for your bookkeeper.
- Reach it by
- Phone
- Who can use it
- Whoever handles your bills; the owner or bookkeeper approves changes
- Works in
- Gmail or Outlook · QuickBooks or Xero · Phone · Your vendor list
The problem
An email that looks like it's from your supplier says they've switched banks and asks you to pay the next invoice to a new account. The logo is right, the name is right, sometimes it even comes from their real, hacked email account.
Your bookkeeper updates the details and pays. The money is gone in a day, and the bank rarely gets it back. The FBI ranks this kind of business email fraud among the costliest crimes it tracks, and small businesses are the easiest targets.
What your agent does
- An email asks to change bank details"Please use our new account for all future payments"
- Your agent holds the changeNothing updates, and no payment goes to the new account
- Calls the vendor at the number on fileNever the number in the email
- Vendor confirms, or doesn'tIf not, the request is flagged as likely fraud
- Your bookkeeper updates the bank detailsIn QuickBooks, with the record of the call
- Owner told, with a record of the call
What you get
- No bank change goes through without a call to a known number
- Fake requests caught before money leaves
- A record of every request, call and approval
Who approves what
The agent never changes bank details. After the vendor confirms on a call to the number you already had, it marks the change verified, and your bookkeeper or the owner makes it in QuickBooks. Payments to a changed account wait until that's done.
Common questions
- What if the vendor's real email account was hacked?
- That's exactly why it calls the number you already had on file, not anything in the email. A hacked inbox can't answer your vendor's office phone.
- What if the vendor really did change banks?
- Then they confirm on the call, the agent marks it verified, and your bookkeeper updates the details in QuickBooks. It adds a day, not a week.
- Does it catch requests that come in other ways?
- It watches the inboxes you connect and any invoice that lists bank details different from the ones on your vendor list. A request by phone or text can be forwarded to it for the same check.
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